Pucking Revenge : Chapter 17

LAUGHING, I throw my phone onto the bed. No wonder I say such ridiculous things all the time. My closest friend literally has no shame. For the first time in hours, I’m hit with genuine relief. Because Lennox will be here tomorrow. I need her more than I realized. She’s the only person I’ve ever completely opened up to about my family, about this job and what it means to me, and about my friendship with Brooks.

She knows everything about me. Or she did. But then Brooks and I started this fake dating thing. It’s not something I want to explain over text. The tangled web I’ve found myself in requires a face-to-face explanation. From her responses, it’s clear she already has the wrong idea. Brooks and I are just friends.

His horrified expression when I mentioned butt stuff this afternoon is proof enough of that. Or his reaction to the way I grabbed his finger and mentioned his hard cock yesterday. Or the way he couldn’t get away from me fast enough when I screamed about his monster cock poking me in the eye. Yeah, he could not be less interested if he tried. Not that I can blame him. I’m insane.

I can only imagine how demure and perfect the woman he really has feelings for is. She’s probably my exact opposite.

I slip off my work clothes and toss my hair up into a ponytail. Then I turn on the shower, making sure to crank the knob all the way to scalding, all the while considering what type of woman would catch Brooks’s eye. What is his type? In all the time I’ve known him, I’ve never so much as seen him flirt with a woman.

Standing under the spray, I run my hands over my torso, hissing when I brush over my nipples. Shit, just thinking about Brooks has me turned on. What sort of crazy is that?

With my lip caught between my teeth, I eye the dildo that’s suctioned to the shower wall. I really shouldn’t. Fake dating Brooks is one thing, but fucking myself in the shower while I think about him?

Heat pools low in my belly when I remember waking up and discovering his cock pressed against my cheek. I glance at the dildo again, running my tongue over my teeth. Is it possible he’s bigger than that? I grip it with my hand, fisting it and sliding along its length. I close my eyes and focus on the ridges and the girth. Yup, it feels about the same as what I remember from the fleeting moment I had his monster cock in my hand.

My heart rate picks up, and I grip the length tighter, then—oh my God, I’m jacking off my shower dildo while picturing Brooks.

Groaning, I stare at it, then my gaze wanders to the shower head, then back to the dildo. Fuck it. I’m never going to make it through dinner with him if I don’t take the edge off. Not with the way my imagination has taken off.

But I absolutely, positively will not think of him while I do it.

I tip forward at the waist and position myself perfectly. Then I shuffle back an inch, then another. I’m absolutely not thinking about the ease with which Brooks knocked out one hundred push-ups on the ice or the way his body looked lowering and raising without a tremor, his thighs not even quaking, as I slide back until the dildo is deep inside me.

“Ah, Brooks,” I murmur, heat and desire coursing through me.

In the next second, my heart lurches. Shit, shit, shit.

With one hand braced against the wall and the other grasping the shower head, I work myself back and forth, taking it slow and keeping the stream of water aimed exactly where I need it. That’s when I give up all pretense. There’s no denying that it’s Brooks’s mouth I’m imagining on my clit, his head between my thighs. And when I come faster than I’ve ever come before, it’s his name on my lips.

“Okay, now you add the softener.”

War snorts beside me. “The Leprechaun is always soft, Sar. He doesn’t need any help in that⁠—”

Aiden’s fist is connecting with Tyler’s arm before he can finish the sentence.

“Ow!” War yells. He follows it up with a slap to Aiden’s shoulder, then another and another. Aiden retaliates, and in seconds, they’ve reverted into preteen boys engaged in a slapping match.

“Incoming!” Daniel, crouched inside his wheeled laundry basket, flies through the space. It’s a mystery how a six-foot, two-hundred-pound hockey player can squeeze into the thing, but he’s headed straight for us, so I dive out of the way. Just in time, too, because in the next second, he knocks both Aiden and War down like they’re bowling pins.

“Watch it,” Brooks growls, looping an arm around me and pushing me behind him. “You almost took out my girlfriend.”

I press my lips together to suppress a smile as all three guys gawk at the big brute. This is the first time he’s claimed me in front of his friends, and that simple sentence alone makes me think I may need another round in the shower before dinner.

What the hell is happening to me?

“Aw, Saint. We’re just playing.” Daniel is propped up against the wall across from us, still inside his basket. He clutches the edges and squirms, trying to wiggle his way free, but his efforts are fruitless. All his movements do is cause the basket to roll one way, then the other. He throws an arm out for balance and shimmies again. When the basket tips, and he has to grab the wall to stay upright, he slumps back in it. “Can one of you help me?”

“No,” Brooks says. His mouth is downturned and his brows are low. What is going on with my best friend? He’s always the happy one, and we’re watching Daniel Hall trying to wiggle his way out of a wheeling laundry basket. This is comedy gold.

I slide my phone out of my back pocket so I can get a shot of the buffoon around Brooks’s massive shoulders. “Say cheese, Playboy!”

Hamming it up for the camera, he gives me his famous lopsided grin.

I’ve never been into younger men, but I guess I can see the appeal. His father, though? God, I can understand why Lake went after Daddy Hall. Ford is one hot dad.

War gets to his feet and offers Aiden a hand. “Let’s get Leprechaun’s laundry going. I’m starving. Dinner?”

I tuck my phone back into my pocket and step out from behind the protective wall of muscle still hovering in front of me. “Brooks is making dinner.”

War waggles his brows. “Oh, Saint is pulling out all the stops. I’m coming over.”

From his cart, Daniel is still huffing and puffing. “Is someone gonna help me out of here?”

Brooks clasps my hand and tugs. “No. Come on. We’re late.”

I dig in my heels and pull him back. It’s not easy. The man is double my size and acting like a stubborn bull all of a sudden. “We’re staying in. Who cares if we have dinner a little later?”

He clenches his jaw in response. God, angry Brooks is hot.

“You getting hangry?” I tease, pressing my hand to his cheek, hoping he’ll relax.

On contact, his lids fall shut, and he pulls in a breath so deep it feels like he’s sucked all the air from the room. His green eyes flutter open and lock on me for an instant, then he turns his attention to the men behind me. “Order a pizza. Sara can help you finish with your laundry if she wants, but then I’m making dinner at her place. No third wheels allowed.”

“Aw, you want me all to yourself.” I try for a light, teasing tone, but my heart is tripping over itself. Maybe he really did steal all the oxygen, because suddenly I’m lightheaded.

Brooks grasps my chin with his thumb and forefinger and watches me so intently it feels like an examination. His thumb brushes once, then twice, against my bottom lip before he murmurs, “Yeah, so what if I do?”

My swallow is heavy. I lick my lips, tracing the path where his thumb just ghosted.

Brooks shifts imperceptibly closer, leaving barely a breath between us, his pulse fluttering at the hollow of his throat.

“Yes!”

At Daniel’s cheer, I jolt and dart back. Brooks does the same.

Aiden is laughing as Daniel finally stumbles out of the basket. The basket itself clatters to the ground loudly.

But War? His focus is trained on Brooks and me. His lips are parted in surprise and his eyes are wide. He looks like his thoughts mirror mine. I’m pretty sure Brooks almost kissed me. And nothing about the tension between us during that moment felt even remotely fake.